While it
may not be as well-known as the Declaration of Independence, George Washington’s
Farewell Address, published in September, 1796, remains a very important and
very relevant document. Intended to announce his retirement from professional
politics after 20 years of service to the government(s) of the United States,
it provides a window into some of the dangers that the first President believed
his nation was due to face. Many of the issues that Washington discussed continue
to be as significant now as they were at the end of the 18th century;
the dangers of excessive borrowing, partisan conflict, entangling foreign
alliances, free trade, and the erosion of the separation of powers. At the same
time the Address also provides insight into Washington himself, his take on
public service, and his view of the role of politics and politicians in his
country’s national life.
I’d like to
discuss both of these aspects of the Address; the ways in which the things it
discusses continue to be relevant, and what it says about Washington as a
political actor. But before I do either I want to take a moment to talk about
why Washington felt compelled to put pen to paper, and perhaps more importantly
why he felt the need to retire at all.
You see, by
1796 Washington was an extraordinarily popular man. He hadn’t always been, of
course. Early in the course of the Revolutionary War, when his defeats
outweighed his victories, there was talk among members of Congress and his
fellow officers of replacing him with someone more experienced. And there were
more experienced officers serving in the Continental Army at that time like Charles
Lee and Horatio Gates (veterans of the British Army) who were perhaps also more
skilled tacticians. But Washington persevered, as did his advocates in
Congress, and thanks to his administrative skill, eye for talent and careful
judgement he was able to hold the British to a standstill and prolong the war
long enough for there to be a negotiated peace.
It was
during the years of his tenure as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army
that Washington began the process of building his reputation. Unlike the
members of Congress, who directed the business of the nation but were not very
visible, Washington occupied a very public-facing position. In the course of
his duties he travelled across the Northern and Southern states, coordinated
with Governors and legislatures to ensure that the Army was well-manned and
supplied, and appointed a great number of officers (who themselves came from
across the United States) to see to the war effort’s day-to-day demands. In the
process he became one of the few men in America that was known from one end of
the Union to the other. In particular, he became very popular among the
enlisted men and junior officers, many of whom looked on him as a father figure
and became some of his most steadfast supporters.
When, in
March, 1783, members of the Continental Army nearly mutinied over Congress’s
inability to reimburse them for their service, it was Washington’s impassioned
speech that put a stop to any serious talk of rebellion. And when, in December
of the same year, it came time for him to resign his commission he did so
without hesitation.
I’d like to
stop for a moment and address this point. In December, 1783 there was virtually
no single person in the United States who held more definite power than George
Washington. He commanded a veteran fighting force whose men and officers adored
him, and enjoyed the support and admiration of people from across the country.
If he so desired it, I do believe, he could have marched on Congress, turned
them out and declared himself King of America. But he didn’t. Feeling that his
duty had been fulfilled, he turned in his commission and rode home to Virginia
with the intention of living out the rest of his life in peaceful retirement.
In a time when men who wielded power gave it up only along with their lives,
this was a truly astonishing thing to do.
The events of 1783 greatly
enhanced Washington’s standing as a man of honesty and integrity, and when it
came time to decide who should stand for election as the first president under the
newly ratified constitution there was little need for debate. Though he might
have preferred to retire again to his plantation at Mount Vernon, Washington
bowed to the wishes of his countrymen and was unanimously elected in 1789. He
did so again in 1792, once more under protest and in fact it was during the
lead-up to his second election that Washington originally penned large sections
of the Address. At that time in the early 1790s the United States had become
increasingly divided into rival political camps, defined by their support for a
strong federal government and close ties with Britain, or strong state
governments and close ties with France. Never a man who lusted after power, he
was convinced to serve a second term by the nearly unanimous affirmation of his
colleagues and subordinates that only he was capable of uniting the factions
and keeping the nation from tearing itself apart.
Over the course of his second
term Washington was challenged on both the foreign and domestic fronts, and though
his personal popularity was not significantly damaged, he found the public
agitation that resulted exhausting. In 1794 he signed the Jay Treaty (which
normalised relations with Great Britain after a period of tension), creating an
uproar among the pro-French citizens of the United States. His subsequent
desire to keep the United States neutral in the emerging conflict between
Britain and France (whose recent revolution had left them with a republican
government) ultimately angered supporters of both nations. Around the same
time, in reaction to the imposition of an excise tax on whiskey, a rebellion
broke out among famers and distillers in Western Pennsylvania. Aiming to settle
the insurrection before it gained significant momentum, Washington rode at the
head of 13,000 militia troops who arrived in the frontier region not long after
the rebels disbursed. Though his government emerged victorious in its effort to
quash the Whiskey Rebellion, Washington found the effort required to administer
an increasingly divided nation personally draining. With another election on
the horizon in 1796, and the temper of public opinion having quieted somewhat,
Washington made it clear that he was not prepared to run for a third term.
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